Maybe calcium is better, especially when using amalayse, and having nothing to do with ammonia; http://www.rpi.edu/dept/...-Environ/beer/water2.htm

I could see that happening. A high PH is not something I have had to deal with since I discovered how much a small amount of baking soda will raise the PH.

Where I used it first was in an AG mash where I was trying to raise PH from 4.8 to 5.6. I have subsequently discovered that almost is close enough for amalayse PH.

The other use was/is raising the yeast-lethal PH of used up dunder from my boiler.

JB.. We are kinda talking about 2 different things: 1) Fermentation and yeast preferred optimal pH 2) Distillation and "desired" pH in regards to free ammonia.

sodium bicarbonate is a better pH adjuster than calcium carbonate because it is a buffer and is more soluble in water. Beer guys don't like it because it gives a salty taste to the beer, but they don't distill. Calcium carbonate can also bind up phosphorus/phosphate which the yeast need.


My concerns are with #2, which is why I interjected; as it happened to me once...i.e. pH was too high when I was distilling the mash/wash and I ended up with blue product. check this: http://homedistiller.org/distill/dtw/blue

Now I always acidify my wash with ascorbic acid when I distill the first time and haven't had a problem since. This is only important for the first distillation (stripping from a wash) as subsequent distillations of the same stuff doesn't have the nitrogen compounds any longer.

Oh yes....that's how I got into the mess. I got all my distillation and fermentation stuff from Brewhaus. They included 2 packs of Turbo 48 in the kit. I had info overload and added DAP along with the turbo; so I had excess ammonia from the get go. Hence I ended up with the blue spirits. In trying to find out what happened, I learned this. Want me to add another twist? LOL It involves sodium bicarb

So, during fermentation and distillation esters are formed, moreso under acidic conditions. One of these is ethyl acetate formed from ethanol. After the stripping distillation, the distillate can be stored with sodium bicarbonate for a period of time (longer the better) prior to next distillation. This 1) prevents oxidation of EtOH to EtOAc (loss of ethanol) and 2) drives the reaction in reverse to form EtOH from EtOAc

Actually esters are formed under both conditions; fermentation biologically; and under heat and lower pH, particularly in presence of carboxylic acids {acetic, citric, ascorbic, tartaric,etc} alcohols are oxidized to esters chemically. Fischer reaction

http://www.youtube.com/w...119o&feature=related ; http://www.youtube.com/w...l0k&feature=related; http://www.organic-chemi...cher-esterification.shtm

There is serious chemistry occurring in every step of what we do. Heeler, email me if you want more references

Looks like I'm doomed.
If I raise the PH of my wash, I make ammonia. If I distill the wash in it's natural low PH, I oxidize my ETOH.

But then again, all was well in my world when I was flying by the seat of my pants. Maybe I read too much...

Does Ethyl acetate burn? Shouldn't affect my fuel? My last run was from a first gen turbo and I pulled 3 quarts of 94% and another quart of 91%. Tastes nasty but is a personal best on purity.

Tea, it isn't really that bad lol. Its only a problem prior to 2nd distillation....after stripping I put it on bicarb which drives the reaction in reverse EtoAc----->EtOH. Ethyl acetate does burn and not really good for you but unless you are doing something really wrong you don't get that much maybe around 100-200 ml.

Edit: just dawned on me, I only do the bicarb treatment when making neutrals. Reason is that it will also destroy other esters that contribute flavors. I do not use bicarb on my single barley malt product

Well, I tried the bicarb in a second run from a first generation Turbo. The starting "low wine" was a gallon of 93% with that nasty turbo taste and about a quart of 80% tails from a failed run of rice. I heated up couple gallons of water and disolved 8 heaping teaspoons of bicarb, added my low wines, and let it sit for 3-4 hours.

When I ran it, I noticed a lot more rumbling from my boiler than I am accustomed to.

Seeing as the heads had already been pulled, I was very loose with my cuts. Went entirely by nose and reflux balance and collected less than 1/2 cup of heads. (I normally make the nose cut and double it)

After the heads, the foreshots were at 90% and rather stinky...and longer than I usually get on first run. The first quart was worse than the feed stock.

I collected 2 quarts of hearts that were cleaner...but not as clean as expected...at 92%.

The 4th quart started stinking again. I had to play with the reflux balance to maintain purity, head temp, and output. When I could no longer maintain 90% and the head temp got to 178, I ran the last cup of distillate into the tails jar.

The whole thing was less succesful than making the second run with plain clean water. Both the cleaning action and the purity seemed to be diminished by the bicarb.

Maybe I don't have the terminology right. I am calling the nail polish remover toxic stuff that I use for degreaser heads. That stuff that makes up the first 1/5 or so of my collection, that is high purity but not real good tasting I am calling the fores. The middle half of my collection that I might offer to friends to drink I am calling hearts. I get another quarter that is of moderate quality but high purity that I don't have a special name for. Then the last bit that is of very poor quality, stinky, and of diminishing purity that I throw back in the pot to run again next time I call tails.

Does everybody else call it something else?